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It would be great if we could all just lace up, tune out, and run on. However, some people out there will straight-up take advantage of a lone runner trying log a few miles. Running safety is a team effort, so let’s look out for each other. And like any team, our individual actions matter, too. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you head out the door.

Find a Friend: Solo miles are a beautiful, cathartic thing. But the biggest deterrent to victimization is a running buddy. Yes, there is indeed safety in numbers. Find a running buddy and be willing to be flexible on start times, locations, mileage and such. Need some new running friends? There’s literally a run club that meets most any day of the week. Or, call your local specialty run shop. Most of them host weekly runs, too!

Run With the Sun: This tip for runner safety is one that we’re sure you’ve heard before; and for good reason. You should run when the sun is out. You can see everything around you, other people and cars can easily see you, and crime occurs less frequently in daylight hours. All of those sound like wins to us.

Light the Way: If you have to run in the dark consider running with lights. You’ll want to have lights so cars and people can see you, and you can see them as well as your environment. Your eyes are your first line of defense, so make sure you are staying vigilant if you are running at night. Consider lights that attach to your clothing and a hand or headlight to illuminate your surroundings.

Shake Up Your Route: Make sure your routes aren’t always the same. For one, a new route can let you see new parts of your city and will keep your runs fresh and interesting. Choosing a new route also has the added benefit of making you less predictable to those that might not have the best intentions. If your only safe route is the same route, then vary your start times and the direction of your run.

Take Control of Your Apps: Speaking of your route, it doesn’t matter very much if you change up your route if you are posting it to Strava, MapMyRun, and social media. Consider whether or not you need to share the map from every run. If you do enjoy posting your running map at every run use the security settings on apps like Strava to hide your start and end locations. This is especially important if you are starting and ending your workouts at home.

Trust Your Instincts: It’s important to trust yourself. If you feel like something is wrong, then consider changing your route, cutting a run short, or even skipping a run entirely. Safety is always preferable to putting yourself in a dangerous situation. Trust yourself and be an advocate for your own safety on every run! And if you see something suspicious or something that makes you uncomfortable, like the saying goes, “if you see something, say something.”

* Excerpted from our original piece, “Safety First.”

Call it a vegetable, call it a grain, call it a fruit. Either way, corn has a place at the table all over the world. In the summertime, a cookout just doesn’t seem complete without it. This recipe for Mexican Street Corn will take this summer staple next level.

Like all of these Recipes for Runners, we tried this one prior to publishing. Yes, it’s amazing. And, yes, we cooked our corn off the cob in a cast iron skillet. We can’t follow simple directions, apparently, and we just like the way some of the kernels get slightly browned in the process. You do you, and enjoy!

Mexican Street Corn – Chef Rhonda Stewart, Senior Instructor, College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University

Servings: 4 – 6

Ingredients:

• 6 ears of Fresh Corn on the Cob, shucked
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Cotija cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. Cholula or other hot sauce (or to taste)
• 1 lime, both zest and juice

Method of Preparation:

• Cook your corn. (Stovetop or grill)
• You can stovetop cook it by placing ears in cold water, and bring water to the boil.  Cover pot. Turn off the heat. Corn will be ready in 10 minutes and will stay warm until needed. This is an easy method, especially if you don’t want to heat up your grill or your grill is filled with other delicious items.
• Or, grill the corn. Heat grill to medium high heat. Place shucked ears on the grill, turning frequently until some of the kernels are a bit charred.  This gives the corn a delicious nutty smokey flavor.

Make the sauce:

• Stir the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl. Once the corn is cooked, spread sauce on each ear and serve.  Enjoy!

Notes:

• Can’t find Cotija Cheese? Other options can include crumbled feta or shredded Parmesan.
• We like Duke’s, but low-fat mayo can work, too. You can also use 1/2 mayo, 1/2 sour cream.
• Not everyone loves cilantro. Parsley, chives, or oregano will work instead.
• Hot sauce. Cholula, Tabasco, Sriracha, Texas Pete, choose your favorite! We used Spicy Chili Crunch because we like it.
• This really completes the flavor profile for this sauce. We use so much around here, we have a bottle of fresh-squeezed lime juice in fridge.
• Leftover corn? (Doubt it!)  You can cut the kernels off the cob, stir in some fresh cherry tomatoes, more cilantro, diced cucumbers and black beans for a great side salad. You can add a simple vinaigrette or more of this sauce.
• It’s not just for street corn, either. This sauce is also great with grilled fish, chicken, sausage, veggies. It will be your new favorite condiment!

Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is behind us – at least for the moment, it seems – but we’re probably far from seeing the end of “bad” air days this summer. We’ll be the first to admit it; the weather, the humidity, the air… they’ll have to really gang up to keep us grounded. Most of But does that necessarily add up to being a bad day to run, a bad day to run?

Let’s start with air quality.

If you spent any time outside last week, you could see the actual smoke hanging in the air around Charlotte. You probably saw the video of orange skies over New York and New Jersey, or those smoggy, smoke-screened pictures of LA from any given day. At that point, your eyes can tell you the air quality is less than perfect.

The stuff you can’t see, like pollution, ozone, and other fine particulates, is monitored and then summed up in the Air Quality Index or AQI. Without going all Bill Nye here, the AQI rates air quality as a number between 0-500 and a range of colors from green to maroon. Green is good; maroon is presumably chunky.

What that means for you and me.

The better the air, the obvious. And for most of us on most days, we’re ok, and mild exposure to air pollution may leave us with irritated eyes or scratchy throats, coughing, or shortness of breath. For folks with heart conditions, asthma or other respiratory issues, children and the elderly, the effects can be more serious and can linger even after the air is cleared. And yes, during the summertime the AQI is often higher. Pollution, smoke, exhaust, etc., combine with warmer temperatures to make air quality worse.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality says, “Code Red AQI days are rare,” here. The last time the Charlotte area hit that unfortunate benchmark was during 2016, when wildfires in western North Carolina pushed particle pollution levels higher across most of the western part of the state.

Yes, but can I run on bad air days?

That depends. Most of us may not even notice the difference if the air quality is the green, yellow, or even orange zones as we go about our day-to-day routines. Sucking wind during a long, hot, or faster run and you may start to feel it. If you are going to run, consider going out earlier in the morning, or a route that’s farther from traffic, like a park or a trail.

“You should know what kind of exposure you can tolerate,” said Dr. Keith Anderson, Medical Director for the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. “If you’re sensitive to air quality, or have underlying health conditions, you should adjust your running plans.”

Generally speaking, most of us are just fine to exercise when the air is less than perfect. But, most experts suggest that when air quality enters the orange zone, the benefits may outweigh the risks.

Air quality is easy to monitor.

Airnow.gov is a government website that reports air quality data from the EPA, NOAA, NASA, the CDC and a bunch of other official sources and agencies with initials for names. The NC Department of Environmental Quality reports air quality current conditions and forecasts here. Information on air quality monitoring in South Carolina can be found here. If you’re really into it, there are several weather and air quality apps available for your phone, where you can set up air quality alerts and really be on top of things.

If you can’t or don’t run, try these ideas to scratch that running itch.

• Take a must-needed day off.
• Drink some water. You’re probably dehydrated.
• Begin that core and flexibility routine you promised to start.
• Collect your old running shoes for donation.
• Visit your local specialty running shop.
• Research a volunteer opportunity at an upcoming running event.
• Register for that bucket list event.
• Find a coach, running club, or weekly meet-up to keep you accountable.

Got some other ideas we should share? Let us know! Email ed@runcharlotte.com

We’re realists here. And we know there’s a ton of stuff on the calendar for the Fourth of July weekend. When the holiday lands mid-week(ish), it can spread you even thinner when you’re trying to do all there is to do while running around Charlotte.

But we’re cooking up a good one for you at the Park National Bank American 4-Miler presented by Novant Health. No kidding! No matter what your plans are, we’ve got (at least) four great reasons you’ll want to start the day with us. Unless you get up really, really early… you’ve probably started the day doing something not nearly as fun.

Get that “beat-the-heat” early start

Let’s face it. The mornings are already getting warmer here in Charlotte. A 7:30am start time gets you a jump on the day and the heat. And if you’ve got cookout, lake, or family plans, you’ll still get back in plenty of time to do your thing. Unless you’ve got chores waiting. Then you’re welcome to hang out until last call at 10:00am.

Hot dogs at the finish?

Yep. You read that one right, too. Along with an array of goodies from our friends at Trader Joe’s, we’ve got “Hot Diggity Dogs” hot dogs waiting for you at the finish line, as well. It felt like a Fourth of July holiday kinda thing to do, so we ran with it. We hope you get a kick out of it.

Win $100 in our hot dog eating contest!

More hot dogs?? If you’re up for another challenge, try your hand – or you face, anyway – in our first-ever, post-race hot dog eating contest. Registration for this one is free, and will take place at the event site. It won’t be like THAT famous contest, but we’re prepared to be VERY surprised. If you witnessed the pancake contest at the Shamrock 4-miler, you know what we mean.

No sleeves, no problem

Like we said, it’s gonna be warm. And it’ll stay that way for a while. You’ll be digging this year’s event shirt for that very reason. Sun’s out guns out, and all that jazz. It’ll be a solid addition to your summer run wardrobe. Fingers crossed you’ll need a little more coverage by Novant Health Charlotte Marathon weekend. Not too much. Just a little…

https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Charlotte/American4Miler

 

Yield: 18 muffins, standard size

Chef Rhonda Stewart from Johnson & Wales University made these muffins on WBTV a few weeks back. She was gracious enough to share the recipe with us here. Check out the video below, then have at it! Note: This recipe can be made with or without eggs. Use one medium banana per egg as a replacement.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized ripe bananas (OR 2 eggs)
• 2 medium-sized ripe bananas
• ½ cup (4 oz) vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup (2.75 oz) buttermilk (or dairy-free milk + 1 Tbsp. Lemon juice or vinegar)
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1-2/3 cups (12 oz) Granulated sugar
• 2-2/3 cups (11 oz.) All-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (1.5 oz.) Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 1 cup (7 oz.) Chocolate chips (can be vegan)

Method of Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large bowl, mash the bananas. When using eggs, whisk the eggs into the mashed bananas. Stir in oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar. Mix until well blended.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the bread flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
• Add these mixed dry ingredients to the banana mixture, stirring until just combined.
• Fold in chocolate chips.
• Prepare two 12-count muffin pans with pan spray. Divide batter into 18 muffin cups.
• Bake muffins until they spring back when touched, or a toothpick comes out clean which is usually about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Notes:  

This recipe is so versatile!

• If you want the traditional “banana bread” shape, then you can just bake the batter in a loaf pan.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake it for a longer amount of time (at least 30 minutes).
• Vegan version: replace eggs with bananas (1 egg = 1 banana) and replace buttermilk with a non-dairy milk and 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice.
• Don’t like chocolate? Increase flour to 3 cups and omit cocoa powder.
• REALLY don’t like chocolate?  Replace the chocolate chips with your favorite nut like walnuts or pecans.
• What if your bananas are ripe but you don’t have time for making muffins now?  Just peel and freeze your ripe bananas until you are ready to bake.  Let them thaw for an hour, or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds before mashing.